Elevated or otherwise abnormal levels of microparticles in blood and other bodily fluids, such as urine for example, are known to be indicative of a variety of pathological conditions, including cardiovascular disease (DVD), diabetes, renal failure, etc.
For example, research has shown that CVD patients have high numbers of microparticles in their blood, which appear to be highly thrombogenic. Diabetes has been reported (European Heart J 2006: 27:817) to correlate with the presence of microparticles in the blood, and end-stage renal failure has also been linked to the presence of circulating microparticles in the blood (J Am Soc Nephrol 2005:16). Microparticles in the urine are often indicative of kidney failure. An abnormally high level of microparticles in the bodily fluid in question is thus indicative of these and other pathologic conditions.
The detection of high numbers of microparticles in blood and/or other bodily fluids would therefore be desirable, as it would be a reliable predictor of one or more of these pathological conditions. Additionally, presumably normal blood donors could be screened, by measuring the levels of microparticles in their blood, in order to determine whether they would be suitable platelet donors or for prophylactic purposes, i.e. to evaluate the patient's risk factors for diseases such as CVD. Particularly with respect to cardiovascular diseases (CVD), few effective tests or screening methods exist in order to permit the prediction of such diseases in patients or to determine the efficacy of a given treatment program. No rapid and easy-to-use test capable of accurately detecting high levels of all microparticles currently exists.
International patent application no. PCT/IB2005/000422, filed by Saga University on 21 Feb. 2005 and published as WO 2006/087597, describes a method of diagnosing cardiovascular disease by reacting an antibody to platelet-derived microparticles, and using the presence or absence of the platelet-derived microparticles in order to diagnose the cardiovascular disease. This system and method is however limited to the use of platelet antibodies and therefore is restricted to the detection and measurement of microparticles which are platelet-derived. These platelet-derived microparticles (PDMP) are those microparticles which are specifically released from platelets in association with platelet activation. Therefore, the method involves detecting an immune response against the PDMPs in a blood sample from the patient, for example by directly detecting the binding of platelet antibodies to the PDMPs. The PDMPs are, for example, detected by immunofluorescence as measured by flow cytometry.
However, a significant draw back exists with the above process described by Saga University. It is well known in the literature that patients with CVD primarily have microparticles in their blood which originate from endothelial cells. These endothelial cell originated microparticles are not platelet-derived, and therefore the above-described method is not capable of being used to detect abnormally high levels of these non-platelet derived microparticles.
As such, an improved method and system for the measurement of all microparticles in blood or other bodily fluid remains desirable, in order to better detect and diagnose a number of pathological conditions, including CVD.
In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, an improved method for detecting microparticles in a bodily fluid sample remains highly desirable.